General Care Discussion :: Update about our Turtles

[iac637]

It has been a while since we have been on to tell you about our turtles. Well Columbus' rear started floating last Sunday so I rushed him to the vet Monday, only to find out that everyone had parasites in their stool. Now everyone is on an antibiotic for that. Columbus received a shot and is now on Baytril for the next week (if anyone has a trick to make him open his mouth that would be great). Columbus was also our larges turtle at one point but he is now the smallest and lightest. This concerned the vet and us because they are all living in the same setting and he always eats. So he is also on liquid calcium as well as the calcium supplement we have been giving him at home. The good news is that his rear stopped floating Monday night.

We also got a new turtle Thursday night; he is an African Helmeted Turtle. I had been watching him for weeks at a local pet store. He is 6+ inches long and had his own tank. He has one missing nail on one of his front feet but it looks to be something that he has been missing a while so no infection. He has a strong shell, though it does have a few spots that are nicked but nothing serious.
Well that is about it for us I hope everyone else has had a great past few weeks as well.

[SpotsMama]

Thanks for the update. Especially glad Columbus is better. We probably should suspect parasites more often when a turtle is not thriving.

[iac637]

The odd thing is he never acted sick and still doesn't the only reason I took him to the vet was the floating rear. He was and is basking fine, eating, swimming and playing in the tank. Everyone is getting treated for parasites because if one has them they all probably do. Not surprising though I didn't get them at the best of places I am just lucky that it was simple to correct.

[SpotsMama]

Do you think the fact that he didn't grow as fast as the others is related to his parasites? I'm guessing he had them the worst since he was the first to show symptoms.

[iac637]

The Vet think that it might becausehe only weighted about 17 grams and I have had him since about Oct. or Nov. and he still isn't even 2 in. yet he is just shy of it.

[iac637]

Sorry our African Helmeted is a African sideneck.

[marisa]

His failure to grow if he was eating well and otherwise acting normally could very well have been due to parasites, as was the floating.

[KalinaBallerina]

The small end of a paperclip (if you unfold it halfway so it forms an "S" shape) works great to get their mouths open. I used to sort of stroke it along Turtle's jawline, then when she opened up, used it as a bite block.

[iac637]

awesome will try I am tired for 45 minutes to try to get them to open then I never get everything in